Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game overview
General components
Player components
Solo Components
Corporation components
How to store the components?
General setup
Corporation setup
Player setup
How to play
End of the game
Solo rules
Corporation actions (solo)
Credits
Appendix
- Agency leaders
- Icon reference

Game overview

At the start of the game, three of the available corporations are picked randomly. Each corporation introduces new projects, actions and scoring opportunities, along with their specific mechanisms.

The game is played over three rounds, each of them divided into three phases: the Shuttle phase, the Action phase and the Maintenance phase.

During the Shuttle phase, each player drafts a Shuttle tile from an open display, determining what type of astronauts and resources they will be able to use for that round, as well as the turn order for the next phase. The Action Phase is the main part of the game, where players take turns deploying their astronauts on the moon to collect resources, build structures or fund projects. Depending on which corporations were selected for the game, there will be different types of resources to collect, which will then be used in various ways for the projects or to build structures.

Each project provides ongoing abilities and scoring opportunities. Each corporation provides different ways to score Victory Points (VP), which could be during the Action Phase, the Maintenance Phase or at the end of the game. During the Maintenance Phase, the astronauts that were deployed in the Action Phase are assigned to work on the structures (providing a bonus to the player owning them), then players collect income and pay maintenance costs. If there are corporations in play with end-round effects, those effects will take place at this point.

At the end of the game, there is a final scoring and the player with the most VP is the winner.

General components

1 main board
15 Shuttle tiles
1 Command Action overlay board (for 2-player & 3-player games)
26 Titanium tokens
16 Rare Earth tokens
52 Credit tokens (24 of value =1, 18 of value 3 and 10 of value 5)
75 Astronaut meeples (25 ENGINEERS, 25 TECHNICIANS, 25 SCIENTISTS)
18 Solar Panel tokens
4 Agency leader tiles (double sided)
1 Energy marker
1 rulebook
11 storage boxes (3 for the general components and 8 for the Corporations)

Player components

1 player board
12 structures (5 Domes, 3 Workshops, 3 Laboratories, 1 Headquarters)
3 Goal markers
1 VP marker
1 Reputation marker
1 Turn Order marker

Solo Components

7 Action solo cards
7 Corporations cards
1 AstroBot board (back of a player board)
1 AstroBot marker

Corporation components

7 Corporation sheets

See the Corporation sheets for further details.

How to store the components?

Because of the modular nature of the game, we decided to propose a storage solution with boxes. Each box indicates which components to store in it.

3 base game boxes.
8 Corporation boxes: 1 for each Corporation, except Selenium Research which requires 2.

General setup

A. Place the main board at the center of the table. B. If playing a 2 or 3-player game, cover the Command Action area with the Command Action overlay board, on the side that corresponds to the number of players.
A. Place the 18 Solar Panels on their corresponding spaces around the crater. B. Place the Energy marker on space 4/5/6 of the Energy track, in a 2/3/4-player game, respectively.
Place the Astronauts, Titanium, Rare Earth and Credits next to the play area to form a general supply. These components are not limited.
Sort the Shuttle tiles according to the number on their back: this number corresponds to the round they will be used.

IMPORTANT: In a 2-player game only, place two Domes from a non-played color on the marked spaces of the main board. Place a Solar Panel in these sectors.

Corporation setup

Randomly select 3 Corporations by shuffling their Corporation sheets. For your first games, we recommend you to play with these Corporations:
- 1st game: Artemis Tours + Moon Mining + Selenium Research.
- 2nd game: Evergreen Farms + Sky Watch + Space Robotics.
- 3rd game: To Mars + Moon Mining + Space Robotics.
For each Corporation: A. Place its Corporation board next to the main board. B. Take the Corporation tokens, then place 4 on the matching slots of the corporation board and 1 on an available slot around the central hex of the main board. Exception: If Selenium Research is in play, take the 6 Selenium Research Corporation tokens and place one of them on an available slot around the central hex of the main board, then return to the box the other identical Corporation token. Then, place the 4 remaining Corporation tokens on the Selenium Research board, alternating their type. C. Shuffle the project cards and form a face up deck next to their board. Then, move the top card of the deck next to it, so there are 2 face up cards per corporation for all the players.
Proceed to each Corporation specific setup, as indicated on their Corporation sheets.

Player setup

Each player chooses a color, then takes the matching components and a player board (now called their base).
Each player places: A. Their structures on the matching spaces of their base. B. Their 3 Goal markers at the bottom of their base. C. Their VP marker on space "0" of the VP track. D. Their Reputation marker on space "0" of the Reputation track.
The last player who traveled into space will be the 1st player for the 1st round. If no player has ever traveled into space, randomly determine a 1st player. Then, in clockwise order starting with the 1st player, each player places their turn order marker on the available space of lowest value of the turn order track.
Place Agency leader tiles (on random side, A or B) equal to the number of players close to the main board, then in turn order, each player: A. Chooses an Agency leader tile. B. Places the leftmost Dome from their base on one of the 6 central sectors on the main board. C. Places a Solar Panel in this sector, starting with the panel at the top of the crater and proceeding in clockwise order. D. Activates a Corporation token from this sector.

How to play

The game is played over 3 rounds, each of them being divided into 3 phases: 1 Shuttle phase, 2 Action phase, 3 Maintenance phase.

1. Shuttle phase

Reveal a number of Shuttle tiles from the current round equal to the number of players +1.
In reverse turn order, each player chooses an available Shuttle tile, places it next to their base and takes from the supply the astronauts and the resources indicated on it.
Once all players have selected their Shuttle tile, adjust turn order this way: the player who selected the Shuttle with the lowest number will be first player for this round: they place their turn order marker on the leftmost space of the turn order track. Then, in ascending Shuttle number, all other players do the same.
The Shuttle tile which has not been selected this round determines the astronauts to place on Lunar Gateway, as long as there is no more than 4 astronauts of each type there. This limit is checked during this step only.

Example: At the beginning of the 2nd round, in reverse turn order, Fabio chooses his Shuttle first, then Nestore and Matthieu choose theirs (1). After having selected their Shuttle and gained the astronauts and resources from them, turn order is determined by ascending Shuttle number (2). Astronauts from the non-selected Shuttle tile are placed in the Lunar Gateway area of the main board, then the Shuttle tile is discarded. Since there are already 2 TECHNICIANS in the Lunar Gateway, only 2 of them are added since their limit is 4 (3).

2. Action phase

In turn order, players take one main action by deploying one Astronaut from their Shuttle tile. This means all players will play 6 main actions each round, for a total of 18 for the entire game.

When comes their turn, the player chooses an Astronaut from their Shuttle tile and deploys it on the main board to:

Exploit the Crater: Depending on the Astronaut type the player deploys, they will gain Credits, mine resources or activate the Corporations.
Perform one of the 3 Command actions: Any astronaut can Build a Structure / Fund a Project / Perform up to 3 Corporation actions, but if the astronaut matches the right Command action, the player will gain a bonus.
Visit the Lunar Gateway: Any astronaut may perform this action, which is a way for players to place Astronauts in their base, therefore to activate their structures abilities.

Exploit the crater

With this action, players gain resources depending on the astronaut type (ENGINEER, TECHNICIAN or SCIENTIST) they deploy in the crater: ENGINEERS mine resources (Titanium and Rare Earth), TECHNICIANS gain Credits and SCIENTISTS activate the Corporation tokens.

The player takes an Astronaut from their Shuttle tile and places it on an available slot around the crater. They must activate all the sectors with at least one structure in the whole row the slot is pointing at.

If the astronaut activates a sector where the active player already has a structure, they just get the benefits for free.
For each sector where they do not have a structure, they must pay Credits to the player with the biggest structure in the sector. The amount of Credits varies from 1 to 3 and is indicated on the slot where the astronaut was placed.

Note: In a 2-player game, if a neutral Dome is the biggest structure in the sector, pay the Credits to the bank.

IMPORTANT: since activating all sectors from a row is mandatory, if the active player does not have enough Credits to activate all of them, they cannot place their astronaut on this particular slot, or they cannot perform this action and must perform another main action.

When deploying an ENGINEER, the player mines the resource depicted on each activated sector (Titanium or Rare Earth).
When deploying a TECHNICIAN, the player gains 3 Credits from each activated sector.
When deploying a SCIENTIST, the player activates one of the Corporation tokens placed around the activated sectors. Each token can only be activated once per action, even if it is adjacent to two sectors of the current row. These tokens will provide resources or other benefits that depend on the Corporations in play.

Example A: Fabio deploys a TECHNICIAN on this crater slot: since he has presence in all 3 powered sectors facing the slot, he does not have to pay Credits to any player. Then, he gains 3 Credits for each powered sector, for a total of 9 Credits.

Example B: Nestore deploys an ENGINEER on this crater slot: since he has presence in one of the 3 powered sectors facing the slot only, he must pay the Credits indicated on the slot to the player owning the biggest structure where he has no presence: he pays 2 Credits to Matthieu. Then, he mines resources from all 3 sectors: 2 Titanium and 1 Rare Earth.

Example C: Matthieu deploys a SCIENTIST on this crater slot: since he has presence in all 3 powered sectors facing the slot, he does not have to pay Credits to any player. Then, he activates 1 Corporation token for each powered sector: he decides to gain 1 Helium3 and 2 Tourists.

Perform one of the 3 Command actions: Build a Structure / Fund a Project / Perform up to 3 Corporation actions

The Command action area is located at the bottom right of the main board: the earlier you play a Command action, the cheaper it is, since an additional cost is indicated on the Astronaut slot (in Credits).

Build a Solar Panel (optional)

Once per turn, anytime while performing Command action, you may build a Solar Panel by spending 1 Rare Earth. To do so, take the next Solar Panel in clockwise order and place it on the central hex of the main board: Solar Panels here can be used by any player. Then, produce the Energy indicated next to the space you took the Solar Panel from (1 or 2 Energy), and gain the Reputation indicated on the track, if any.

IMPORTANT: When the Energy marker is on one of the two rightmost slots, players cannot build Solar Panels until some Energy is spent.

Example: Fabio spends 1 Rare Earth to build a Solar Panel: he takes the next Solar Panel in line on the track and places it on the central hex of the main board (1). This panel makes him increase the Energy level by 2 and gain 1 Reputation (2). Now the position of the Energy marker forbids any player to build more Solar Panel until some Energy has been used and the marker moved backward (3).

Build a Structure

Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot by spending the Credits indicated on the slot (if any) to build one of your structures. There are 4 types of structures and their cost is indicated on the player board: Domes, Workshops, Laboratories and Headquarters.

To Build a Structure, you must spend the indicated resources and sometimes consume Energy (Laboratory and Headquarters only). After paying the structure's cost, take it from your base and place it in a powered sector of the main board, where there is not already another structure of the same size or from the same player color.

Powered sector: A powered sector is a sector with a Solar Panel in it. If there is no Solar Panel in a sector you must power it by taking an available one from the central hex OR by building one yourself (see Build a Solar Panel above).

IMPORTANT: Right after building your structure, you may move any astronauts from your base to the newly built structure. Otherwise, you will not be able to move Astronauts there until the next Maintenance Phase.

Action bonus (Build a Structure)

After resolving all effects from this Command action, you must trigger its bonus if you deployed an ENGINEER: choose a Corporation:

If there is no Corporation token from the chosen Corporation around the sector you just built, take the next Corporation token from that Corporation board, place it on an empty Corporation token slot around this sector and activate it. → Adding new Corporation tokens on the main board brings more possibilities to activate the Crater with a SCIENTIST and increases the cost to Fund Projects from that Corporation (See Fund a Project below).
If there is already a Corporation token from the chosen Corporation around the sector you just built, do not add a Corporation token and activate the one already there.
If there is no empty slot in the sector, you must activate one of the Corporation tokens already present.

Example: Fabio spends 2 Credits to place his ENGINEER on the astronaut slot (1). Then, he builds a Workshop in a sector that already has a Nestore's structure (2). Since he deployed an ENGINEER for this action, he chooses a Corporation: Artemis Tours. Since there is no Artemis Tours token around this sector, Fabio takes the next token from the Artemis Tours board, places it on an empty slot around the crater and activates it: he gains a Tourist (3).

Structures in detail

Each structure has a size, (represented by a number of slots), which corresponds to the number of astronauts they can host over the course of the game. When a slot is filled with the corresponding type of astronaut, it provides a bonus:

Domes (size 1): They provide immediate bonuses when built and income to collect during the Maintenance phase:

ENGINEERS produce 1 Titanium.
TECHNICIANS produce 3 credits.
SCIENTISTS grant 2 VP.

Workshops (size 2): They unlock ongoing abilities:

Each ENGINEER here provides a 3 Credits discount during the Maintenance phase.
Each TECHNICIAN here provides a 1 Credit discount and -1 Energy requirement to Fund Projects.
Each SCIENTIST here provides a 1 Credit discount to deploy an Astronaut to perform a Command action.

Laboratories (size 3): When you build a Laboratory, you trigger its immediate ability and the ability of all other Laboratories you previously built.

The top Laboratory mines the resource where you built your last Laboratory.
The central Laboratory makes you gain 3 Credits.
The bottom Laboratory activates a Corporation token around the sector where you built your last Laboratory.
At the end of the game, each Laboratory will grant you VP if it hosts Astronauts of the required type.

Headquarters (size 6): It improves your Agency Leader tile ability and provides income to collect during the maintenance phase: 1 Reputation for each Astronaut there.

Fund a Project

Project card anatomy

Each Project card shows: its Name; an Immediate effect (if any); its Ability; the Corporation the project belongs to; and its VP at the end of the game.

Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot to Fund a visible Project from any Corporation in play. Follow these steps:

Choose a visible Project card and check its Credit cost and Energy requirement, indicated on the right of the Corporation board, on the bottommost visible slot.
Check the Energy requirement (indicated in white):
- If the Energy level is equal to or higher than this requirement, go to directly 3.
- If not, you must produce Energy before, for example by building a Solar Panel (see above) and/or using another of your Project's abilities which allows you to do so. Also, this Workshop's ability helps you fund Projects by reducing their Energy requirement by 1 for each TECHNICIAN in it. Then go to step 3.

Very low Energy: If the Energy level is lower than 3, you may first spend the indicated Credits to produce Energy (and gain Reputation accordingly), then you may use any combination of Energy producing ways to meet the requirement, if needed (build a Solar Panel, use another Project's ability, use your Workshop's ability, etc.)

Consume the amount of Energy (in red and which is different from the minimum Energy requirement) by reducing the Energy level accordingly.
Pay the Credit cost, by spending Credits from your supply.
Take the Project and place it next to your base. Then, apply the immediate effect of the Project, if any.
Reveal a new Project from the same Corporation, if possible.

Action bonus (Fund a Project)

After resolving all effects from this Command action, you must trigger its bonus if you deployed a TECHNICIAN: perform a Corporation action (see below).

Example: Nestore spends 1 Credit to place his TECHNICIAN on the astronaut slot (1). Then, he decides to fund Helium3 Extractor, a project from the Moon Mining corporation. The cost of this project is 5 Credits and it requires 5 Energy (2). The Energy marker is on the 6 so Nestore can fund the project by spending 5 Credits from his supply, then he moves the Energy marker back 1 space (3).

He takes the card and resolves its immediate effect: gain 1 Helium3.

Since the Helium3 Extractor ongoing ability allows him to spend 2 Credits to gain 1 additional Helium3 when he gains at least one, he decides to pays 2 Credits from his supply to gain 1 additional Helium3 (4). At the end of the game, Nestore will score 4 VP for this project.

Since he deployed a TECHNICIAN (5), he must perform a Corporation action: he decides to increase his Reputation by 2.

Perform up to 3 Corporation actions

Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot to perform up to 3 Corporation actions. You may perform several times the same, except for the Corporation actions from the Reputation track.

Corporation actions can be found in various areas of the game:

Corporation actions from the Reputation track: You can only perform a Corporation action from the Reputation track if your Reputation marker has reached or passed the slot with that action. If you perform several Corporation actions from the Reputation track, they must be all different.

Gain 2 Reputation
Gain 1 Titanium
Gain 1 Rare Earth
Activate 1 Corporation token from the main board.

Note: Should you unlock a new Corporation action on the Reputation track after gaining any amount of Reputation, this Corporation action becomes available immediately.

Corporation action from a Corporation board: you may perform several times the same Corporation action from a Corporation board. Each Corporation offers you the opportunity to perform a - powerful - Corporation action.

Corporation action from a Project you funded:

Projects with the "Corporation action" icon let you perform a Corporation action.
Projects with the "Once per Round Corporation Action" icon let you perform a Corporation action once per round. When you use it, you must rotate the card by 90 degrees to indicate that you cannot use it again this round. At the end of each round, you will then rotate back your cards.

Action bonus (Perform up to 3 Corporation actions)

After resolving all effects from this Command action, you must trigger its bonus if you deployed a SCIENTIST: take an Astronaut from the Lunar Gateway and place them it on an available slot of your base. If you have no room for an astronaut, ignore this bonus.

Example: Nestore spends 3 Credits to place his SCIENTIST on the astronaut slot (1). Nestore performs 3 Corporation actions. First, he decides to increase his Reputation by 2, so his marker reaches space 4, unlocking a new Corporation action from the Reputation track (2), which he decides to use immediately as his 2nd corporation action: he gains 1 Titanium (3).

Finally, as his 3rd Corporation action, he performs the Moon Mining Corporation action by shipping 2 Helium3 to the Shuttle, which earns him 6 VP (4). Since he deployed a SCIENTIST, he must take an Astronaut from the Lunar Gateway: he chooses a TECHNICIAN and places it in his base (5).

Visit the Lunar Gateway

Deploy any Astronaut and place it in the Lunar Gateway area of the main board to do the following in any order:

Gain 3 Credits.
Take an Astronaut from the Lunar Gateway (physically different from the one just placed) and place it on an available slot of your base. If there is no Astronaut on the Lunar Gateway anymore, or if there is no room for an Astronaut in your base, skip this step.
Perform a Corporation Action.

Example: Matthieu visits the Lunar Gateway: he deploys an ENGINEER from his Shuttle tile and places them in the Lunar Gateway area.

He gains 3 Credits (1), then takes a TECHNICIAN and places them in a Dome slot from his base (2). Then, he performs a Corporation action and decides to increase his Reputation by 2 (3).

End of turn: claim one or several Corporation goals

At the end of your turn, you may claim any number of Corporation goals:

You cannot claim more than one goal from each Corporation.
Check if you meet the requirement and if it is available: the slot must not have a goal token on it and some slots are reserved for 3 & 4 player games. Each Corporation has 3 requirements: the more difficult the requirement, the more VP it scores.
Place one of your Goal tokens on the slot and score the indicated VP + extra VP depending on the position of your Reputation marker (between 0 and 4 VP).

The Reputation track

Players' Reputation starts at 0. During the game, you will increase your Reputation, which will unlock new opportunities:

Spaces 0, 4, 8 and 12: Once your Reputation reaches these spaces, you unlock a new Corporation action: gain 2 Reputation, gain 1 Titanium, gain 1 Rare Earth, activate any Corporation token on the main board.
Spaces 2, 6, 10 and 14: Once your Reputation reaches these spaces, you score additional VPs when claiming a goal: 1/2/3/4 additional VPs respectively.
Spaces 1, 5, 9 and 13: Once your Reputation reaches these spaces, your maintenance cost is increased by 1/2/3/4 Credits, respectively.
Should your Reputation marker be on space 15 and you would gain Reputation, you gain 1 VP instead.
Should your Reputation marker be on space 0 and you would lose Reputation, you lose 2 VP instead, if able (your VP cannot go below 0).

Reminder: at the end of the game, you score VP equal to your Reputation.

3. Maintenance phase

1. Corporation Maintenance

From Corporation #1 to Corporation #3 (from top to bottom), resolve their Maintenance step (explained in their Corporation sheets), if any.

2. Retrieve Astronauts from the crater

Starting from the topmost crater space and going clockwise, the player who has the biggest total structure size in the row facing the astronaut gains it and places it in their base, if able. If the player has no room for the astronaut, it is returned to the Lunar Gateway.

In case of a tie, the astronaut goes to the tied player with the biggest structure in the sector closest to the astronaut slot. If there is no structure from any tied player in this sector, then check the second closest sector, etc.

The top left area of the player boards allow players to welcome an extra astronaut, waiting for a structure to be built to welcome them.

Example: Starting from the symbol and going clockwise, players retrieve the Astronauts from the crater (1).

The first Astronaut to be retrieved is a ENGINEER: Fabio and Matthieu are tied in total structure size in the row facing the ENGINEER (4 each) (2).

Since Matthieu controls the biggest structure closest to the ENGINEER, (3) he gains the ENGINEER and places it in his base. Then, players continue retrieving Astronauts in clockwise order.

(4) The SCIENTIST at the other side goes to Matthieu, because there are no Brown buildings in the closest sector to it.

3. Collect income

First, players may reorganize their Astronauts on their player board by moving them on empty slots, as long as there is at most one Astronaut on each slot.

Then, they collect income in this order:

Corporations: players gain income from the Corporations, if any.
Domes: players gain 1 Titanium for each ENGINEER, 3 Credits for each TECHNICIAN and 2 VP for each SCIENTIST there.
Headquarters: players gain 1 Reputation for each Astronaut (regardless of their type) in their HQ.

Example: Matthieu gains 2 Titanium and 3 Credits from his Domes and 2 Reputation from his HQ.

4. Pay Maintenance costs

Players must spend Credits for:

The last Reputation maintenance cost their marker reached on the Reputation track (between 0 and 4 Credits)
The total Maintenance cost for the structures they built: each Dome costs 1 Credit, each Workshop costs 2 Credits, each Laboratory costs 3 Credits and the Headquarters costs 4 Credits.

Note: Do not forget that each ENGINEER in the top Workshop reduces your maintenance cost by 3 Credits.

For each missing Credit, they move back their Reputation marker on the Reputation track one space. Should their marker go below 0, they lose 2 VP for each remaining missing Credit.

Example: Matthieu must pay his maintenance costs: 2 Credits for his Reputation (1), then 10 Credits for his structures (2 Credits for his Domes, 4 for his Workshops and 4 for his HQ).

Since there is an ENGINEER in his Worksop, his maintenance cost is reduced by 3 Credits (2). He must pay 9 Credits in total (2 + 10 - 3 = 9)

5. Astronaut Cleanup

Remove all Astronauts from the Command action area.

End of the game

After the Maintenance phase of the 3rd round is over, proceed to endgame scoring to determine the winner:

Score VP from the Projects you funded.
Score VP from Astronauts in your Laboratories: for each Laboratory you built, score 2/5/10 VP if there are 1/2/3 Astronauts of the matching type.
Score VP equal to your Reputation level.
Score VP from the 3 Corporations, starting by the topmost one. The way to score endgame VP is indicated on the Corporation sheets.

The player with the most VP wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most Reputation wins the game. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Example: Matthieu scores his endgame VPs: 10 VP from funded projects (1), 2 VP from his top Laboratory and 10 VP from his middle Laboratory (2), 8 VP from his marker's position on the Reputation track (3) and 3 VP from Artemis Tours, since the Moon Casino scores him 1 VP for each 3 remaining Credits (4).

Solo rules

In the solo mode, you play against AstroBot, an automated player running one of the space agencies.

Solo Components

7 solo Action cards
7 double sided solo Corporation cards (3 are used each game)
1 AstroBot board (back of a player board)
1 Development marker

Setup

Choose a player color for yourself and one for AstroBot, then follow the setup for a 2-player game, but draw only one Agency Leader tile for yourself and do not place the astrobot's dome yet.
Place your Turn Order marker on the 1st slot and AstroBots' on the 2nd.
Take a third player board and place it to the right of AstroBot's board, showing its Solo side. This board has 3 Corporation slots, marked with the letters A, B, C, with a track below. At the bottom of the board, there is the AstroBot's Development track.
Take the solo Corporation cards of the 3 corporations in play, and place one on each of the 3 corporation slots (A, B and C) of the Solo Board. In the remainder of the rules, we will refer to corporations by their corresponding letter (i.e. corporation A will be the corporation which solo card was placed in the 'A' slot, and so on). Each corporation card has two sides: one marked as Easy (★), the other marked as Hard (★★):
- For an easy game, place all cards on their Easy side.
- For more challenging games, place one or more cards on their Hard side.
Place the 3 AstroBot's goal markers on the 0 of the project tracks located under the Corporation cards.
Place the Development marker on the 0 of the Development track of the Solo board.
Shuffle the 7 Action solo cards into a deck that is placed, face down, below the solo board. Draw one Solo Action card and use it to decide where AstroBot will place its first Dome. Look at the letter with a red background in the top right corner of the card: place the starting Dome in a sector from the inner circle, next to the corresponding Corporation token.
- If both sectors next to that token are already occupied (by the neutral Dome and by yours) use the letter without the red background.
- If both sectors are available, pick one according to the direction of the arrow on the card (see below under the build action how to use the arrow in order to pick a slot on the board).

Gameplay

The game then plays as follows:

Shuttle phase

Follow these steps in order:

During each Shuttle phase, shuffle the 5 Shuttle tiles from the current round face down. Assign one face down tile to AstroBot, then reveal two more, face up.
Choose one of the 2 revealed Shuttle tiles for yourself (take astronauts and resources indicated on it, as usual), and use the other one to fill up the Lunar Gateway.
Reveal AstroBot's face down Shuttle tile, place it next to the solo board, and fill it with matching astronauts. AstroBot does not gain or use resources and Credits.
Update the turn order according to the numbers on the selected Shuttle tiles.

Example: Fabio assigns 1 Shuttle face down to AstroBot (1), then draws 2 Shuttle tiles for himself (2): he chooses the #2 Shuttle tile for himself, so the astronauts from the #5 Shuttle tile are placed on the Lunar Gateway (3).

Then, Fabio reveals AstrBot's Shuttle tile's number: it is the Shuttle #1, so Fabio adjusts the new turn order accordingly (4).

Action Phase

On AstroBot's turns, draw a card from its Solo deck and place it to the right of the previous card. On the first turn, place the card on the left, then on subsequent turns, place a new card on its right, therefore forming a row of 7 cards at the end of each round.

1. Check the letter

At the top left of each card, there are two letters which will determine the corporation to be considered for the turn:

If only one matches the letter on the right side of the previous card, that will be the active corporation.
If both match, the active corporation will be the one corresponding to the letter with a red background on the previous card.

2. Check the card symbol

Development icon: advance the Development marker one step to the right on the Solo board. If the marker is already at the end, advance AstroBot's Reputation marker one step instead.
Goal icon: advance the Goal marker on the Solo board for the current corporation. If the marker reaches the end of the track, move it to the corresponding Corporation board.

The achievement reached by AstroBot is determined by the Development track only: AstroBot claims the lowest goal, but if the Development marker has reached the 3rd slot, AstroBot will claim the medium goal. If it has reached the 7th slot, AstroBot will claim the top goal.

Then perform the action depicted on that row.

IMPORTANT: If AstroBot cannot claim its goal (because you did it first), it claims the one just below. But if you already claimed the lowest goal, AstroBot will claim the medium one, even if it has not reached the adequate level on the Development track yet.

IMPORTANT: If AstroBot has already claimed a goal for the active Corporation, advance instead the goal marker of the corporation which is the further back. In case of a tie, choose the other Corporation letter in the current card.

Example: AstroBot plays its first Action card of the current round: first, the letter indicates that the active Corporation is Artemis Tours (1).

Then, the card symbol makes AstroBot progress its Goal marker one space (2), which makes AstroBot scores Artemis Tours' goal, according to its development track: AstroBot scores 8 VP (3).

3. Resolve the action

Each card has 3 rows with different astronaut types:

Identify the topmost row for which AstroBot still has an astronaut of that type available on its Shuttle tile.
Then, perform the action depicted on that row.

The crater on the previous solo card contains information used to break ties when resolving the action for this turn. This crater has two main pieces of information: one triangle along the crater and an arrow. In the following, when we refer to the 'Triangle' and to the 'Arrow', we mean the icons on the card revealed in the previous turn.

Exploit the crater

AstroBot deploys an astronaut in the crater. It searches for the first available crater slot where it would gain the astronaut if the round was to stop now, starting with the position marked by the triangle on its solo action cards and following the orientation given by the arrow (clockwise or counterclockwise). AstroBot never gains resources from the crater. For each sector in the selected row where you have a structure while AstroBot has none, gain Credits from the bank equal to the value on the selected slot.

IMPORTANT: If there is no room left in the crater for an astronaut, AstroBot performs the Visit the Lunar Gateway action instead.

Build a Structure

AstroBot deploys an ENGINEER on the leftmost available slot to build a structure for the active Corporation. Resolve these steps in order:

The type of structure AstroBot builds is determined by its Development track. If all structures of the selected type have been built, it builds the first structure available of a smaller size.
Starting with the row indicated by the triangle on the solo card and following the arrow (if needed): Search for the 1st available row where AstroBot would gain an astronaut if the round would end now. AstroBot builds in the powered sector closest to the astronaut, if able. Otherwise choose another powered sector in this row. If there is no room for the structure in the powered sector, AstroBot builds a Solar Panel (therefore gaining Reputation + producing Energy) in the sector closest to the astronaut and builds its structure there. If still not possible, continue searching in the next available row, following the arrow.

If there is no astronaut in the crater, AstroBot builds in the powered sector closest to the triangle, if able. Otherwise choose another powered sector in this row. If there is no room for the structure in the powered sector, AstroBot builds a Solar Panel (therefore gaining Reputation + producing Energy) in the sector closest to the triangle and builds its structure there. If still not possible, continue searching in the next available row, following the arrow.
Then, place the structure (from left to right, and from top to bottom) in the sector.

Bonus action: After resolving its action entirely, AstroBot places a Corporation token from the current Corporation, if possible (i.e. if there is not already one in the sector, if there is room for one and if the corporation board still has one). If there are 2 or more empty slots where to place a Corporation token, use the Triangle and Arrow (relative to the current sector) to pick one.

IMPORTANT:

If the Energy marker is on the last 2 spaces of the Energy track, AstroBot cannot build a Solar Panel: it performs the Visit the Lunar Gateway action instead.
AstroBot triggers immediate effects from Domes, but not from Laboratories, and does not spend Titanium or Rare Earth for structures. But will consumes Energy if so required (for Laboratories and Headquarters).

Fund a Project

AstroBot deploys a TECHNICIAN on the leftmost available slot to Fund a visible Project from the active Corporation. Follow these steps:

AstroBot chooses the project worth the most VP. In case of a tie, it decides which one based on the orientation of the arrow (left or right).
Check the Energy requirement (AstroBot never spends Credits) indicated in white on the lowest visible slot of the active Corporation board.
- If the Energy level is equal to or higher than this requirement, go to step 3.
- If not, AstroBot must reduce the requirement or produce Energy before, in this order: apply its Development track discount, then virtually buy Energy if the level is below 3, and build a Solar Panel (so AstroBot may gain Reputation this way) if it is still not sufficient. The Solar Panel is placed on the center hex of the main board and will be used later by any player. If there is still not enough Energy for the current Corporation, AstroBot tries with the next one (in A/B/C order). If no project can be funded, AstroBot performs the Visit the Lunar Gateway action instead.
Take the project and place it next to AstroBot's base. AstroBot ignores all its effects: it will only provide VPs at the end of the game (you can stack all its project cards, leaving only the bottom right corner visible).
Reveal a new project from the same Corporation, if able.

Bonus action: After resolving its action entirely, AstroBot performs a Corporation action for the active Corporation.

Perform up to 3 Corporation actions

AstroBot deploys a SCIENTIST on the leftmost available slot to perform one Corporation action for each of the 3 Corporations in play, in this order: A, B and C. Follow these steps in order:

Each Corporation solo card indicates what AstroBot does when performing their Corporation action.
For each Corporation action AstroBot cannot perform, it gains 2 Reputation instead.

Bonus action: After resolving its action entirely, AstroBot gains an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway, if able, chosen according to these priorities: the astronaut whose type is least numerous in AstroBot's base, followed by the astronaut whose type is least numerous in the Lunar Gateway, followed by the astronaut type indicated on the current Action card, from top to bottom.

Visit the Lunar Gateway

This action is not present in any of the solo Action cards. If an action cannot be performed for any reason (e.g. there are no available slot left on the action board, or there are no available project cards for the given Corporation, or no viable location to build a structure, etc.) AstroBot will deploy its astronauts in the Lunar Gateway.

AstroBot gains an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway and places it in its base, chosen according to these priorities: the astronaut whose type is least numerous in AstroBot's base, followed by astronaut whose type is least numerous in the Lunar Gateway, followed by the astronaut type indicated on the current Action card, from top to bottom.
AstroBot performs a Corporation action for the active Corporation. If not possible, it gains 2 Reputation instead.

Note: When placing astronaut in AstroBot's base, place it on a matching available slot if possible. Otherwise, place it on any empty slot.

Maintenance phase

Corporation Maintenance. Proceed as usual.
Retrieve astronauts from the crater. Should AstroBot gain astronauts during this phase, place them as follows:
- During the first two rounds: Place SCIENTISTS in the Domes, and everyone else in the Headquarters, if built. Otherwise, fill the available slots from left to right and from top to bottom, placing first the matching astronauts and then, placing the rest.
- During the last round: Fill the Laboratories first with matching astronauts, and then place any remaining SCIENTISTS in Domes, the rest going to the Headquarters (if built). Any remaining astronauts at the end of this procedure is placed on the remaining available slots. If AstroBot cannot welcome an astronaut in its base, it is placed in the Lunar Gateway instead.
Collect income. AstroBot gains 2VP for each SCIENTIST in its Domes and 1 Reputation for each astronaut in its Headquarters.
Pay Maintenance costs. AstroBot does not pay maintenance costs!
Astronaut Cleanup. Proceed as usual.
Solo deck reset. Put aside the last solo card played (which will become the starting solo card for the next round), and shuffle the other 6 cards in a new deck (Skip this step if it is the last round).

Endgame Scoring

AstroBot scores the VP value of its funded projects, the astronauts in its Laboratories, VP from the Reputation track and potential endgame VP from Corporations.

Corporation actions (solo)

These describe what AstroBot's solo Corporation card makes it do for each Corporation, when instructed by the solo rules above.

Artemis Tours Easy & Hard: Take the next Tourist from the Artemis Tours board, then place it on the lowest VP value of AstroBot's corporation cards. AstroBot immediately scores the indicated VP.

Selenium Research Depending on where the triangle points, points at, take the corresponding Experiment tile and discard it. AstroBot ignores the reward on the tile, on the tile. Instead, it gains VP as specified on the solo Corporation card.

Moon Mining Easy & Hard: Take a Cargo token and place it on a Shuttle slot according to the Development track and the arrow on the solo Action card. If the selected slot is occupied, use the other slot at the same level. If none is available, look at the next level. If all slots at the right are occupied, ship to the rightmost available slot. AstroBot ignores the bonus on the corporation board and instead gains the VP indicated value indicated on the Corporation card for the selected slot.

Space Robotics AstroBot builds a Factory depending on:

The triangle on the solo card: left / center / right.
The position of its marker on the Development track: Easy: 0/2: top, 3/5: middle, 6/7: bottom. Hard: 0/1: top, 2/3: middle, 4/7: bottom. If there is no available Factory at the indicated position, AstroBot will first seek to build the first one available to its right on the same row. If none is available, it will look at the row below and then at the row above until it finds one.

Evergreen Farms Starting with the row indicated by the triangle on the solo card and following the arrow (if needed), determine the row where AstroBot has the majority of structure size points: AstroBot places a farm in the sector closest to the triangle where he owns a structure. If multiple farm sizes fit, pick according to the position of its Development track: Easy: 0/1: size 1. 2/3: size 2. 4/7: size 3. Hard: 0/1: size 1 + AstroBot scores 1 VP. 2/3: size 2 + AstroBot scores 2 VP. 4/7: size 3 + AstroBot scores 3 VP. Maintenance phase: When retrieving astronauts, AstroBot gains the benefits from the farms in that row (regardless of whether or not it can welcome the astronauts in its base).

Sky Watch AstroBot progresses on the Sky Watch track depending on the position of its marker on the Development track:

Easy: 0/2: 1 step, 3/5: 2 steps, 6/7: 3 steps.
Hard: 0/1: 1 step, 2/3: 2 steps, 4/7: 3 steps. Then, it contributes to a Defense Program from the section it reached, from bottom to top. When contributing to the topmost Defense Program, AstroBot consumes 1 Energy, as usual. If AstroBot cannot contribute to a Defense Program, it progresses 3 additional steps on the Sky Watch track instead. IMPORTANT: If AstroBot cannot progress on the Sky Watch track anymore, ignore all further progressions, but it still contributes to a Defense Program if able.

To Mars AstroBot sends one of its structures to the Mars ship.

First, pick a structure that would complete a module of the Mars ship, if able. If several structures correspond to what AstroBot will send, search the first available one in the row pointed by the triangle symbol and follow the arrow, if needed.
Otherwise, pick the biggest structure available. If several structures correspond to what AstroBot will send, search the first available one in the row pointed by the triangle symbol and follow the arrow, if needed.
Then, depending on the position of its marker on the Development track, AstroBot gains the following bonuses which are cumulative:

Easy: 0/7: Gain 1 VP. 3/7: Build the leftmost available Solar Panel on the Mars Ship and gain the indicated bonuses. 6/7: Gain an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway. Hard: 0/7: Gain 2 VP. 2/7: Build the leftmost available Solar Panel on the Mars Ship and gain the indicated bonuses. 4/7: Gain an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway.

IMPORTANT: Every time AstroBot gains an astronaut, send it to the Mars ship (following the game rules concerning sending an astronaut there), if able.

Credits

Game design and solo mode: Fabio Lopiano & Nestore Mangone Art & Graphic: David Sitbon Graphic & DTP: Ulric Maes Development: Fabio Lopiano & Nestore Mangone & Matthieu Verdier Rules writing: Matthieu Verdier Production: Emmanuel Beltrando Special thanks: Francesco Binetti, Alexandre Figuière, Mario Gazzaniga, Ioana Ghica (@boardgamesfever), Valeria Grandinetti, Barbara Parutto, Andrea Robbiani, David Spada

Appendix

Agency leaders

Each Agency Leader has a special ability, which can be improved once the player has built their Headquarters.

Canada A Ability: Before you perform a main action, you may spend 2 Credits to swap one of your available astronauts with one from the Lunar Gateway. You must perform your main action with this astronaut. Improved ability: Before you perform a main action, you may swap one of your available astronauts with one from the Lunar Gateway. You must perform your main action with this astronaut.

Canada B Ability: After you built a structure, you may spend 3 Credits to gain an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway and place it in your structure. Improved ability: After you built a structure, you may spend 1 Credit to gain an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway and place it in your structure.

Japan A Ability: When you fund a project, spend 1 Credit less. Improved ability: When you fund a project, spend 3 Credits less.

Japan B Ability: When you fund a project, you may spend 3 Credits to activate its corresponding Corporation token. Improved ability: When you fund a project, you may spend 1 Credit to activate its corresponding Corporation token.

Europe A Ability: The cost to activate the crater in sectors where you are not present is always 1 Credit. Improved ability: When you activate the crater, gain 1 Credit for each sector you activate.

Europe B Ability: After you activated the crater, you may spend 2 Credits to perform a Corporation action. Improved ability: After you activated the crater, you may perform a Corporation action.

USA A Ability: When you build a structure, you may spend 3 Credits instead of 1 Titanium or 1 Rare Earth. Improved ability: When you build a structure, you may spend 2 Credits instead of 1 Titanium and/or spend 2 Credits instead of 1 Rare Earth.

USA B Ability: After you built a structure, you may spend 2 Credits to mine the sector where you built it. Improved ability: After you built a structure, you may mine the sector where you built it.

Icon reference

Gain Credits / Spend Credits
Titanium / Rare Earth
Reputation / Immediate VP / Endgame VP
Corporation action / Once per Round Corporation Action
Mine a sector / Gain an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway
Shuttle tile / Any astronaut
ENGINEER / TECHNICIAN / SCIENTIST
Energy requirement / Energy consumption
Exploit the Crater / Command action / Build a Structure / Fund a Project / Perform 3 Corporation actions / Visit the Lunar Gateway
Dome / Workshop / Laboratory / Headquarters
Total structure size / Structure size
Build a Structure for free (regardless of energy and costs)
Fund Project for free (regardless of energy and costs)
Income / Activate a Corporation Token
Card triggers: Corporation Action / Once per Round Corporation Action / Ongoing Ability / Endgame Scoring / Immediate Bonus

Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game overview
General components
Player components
Solo Components
Corporation components
How to store the components?
General setup
Corporation setup
Player setup
How to play
End of the game
Solo rules
Corporation actions (solo)
Credits
Appendix
- Agency leaders
- Icon reference

Game overview

At the start of the game, three of the available corporations are picked randomly. Each corporation introduces new projects, actions and scoring opportunities, along with their specific mechanisms.

The game is played over three rounds, each of them divided into three phases: the Shuttle phase, the Action phase and the Maintenance phase.

At the end of the game, there is a final scoring and the player with the most VP is the winner.

General components

1 main board
15 Shuttle tiles
1 Command Action overlay board (for 2-player & 3-player games)
26 Titanium tokens
16 Rare Earth tokens
52 Credit tokens (24 of value =1, 18 of value 3 and 10 of value 5)
75 Astronaut meeples (25 ENGINEERS, 25 TECHNICIANS, 25 SCIENTISTS)
18 Solar Panel tokens
4 Agency leader tiles (double sided)
1 Energy marker
1 rulebook
11 storage boxes (3 for the general components and 8 for the Corporations)

Player components

1 player board
12 structures (5 Domes, 3 Workshops, 3 Laboratories, 1 Headquarters)
3 Goal markers
1 VP marker
1 Reputation marker
1 Turn Order marker

Solo Components

7 Action solo cards
7 Corporations cards
1 AstroBot board (back of a player board)
1 AstroBot marker

Corporation components

7 Corporation sheets

See the Corporation sheets for further details.

How to store the components?

Because of the modular nature of the game, we decided to propose a storage solution with boxes. Each box indicates which components to store in it.

3 base game boxes.
8 Corporation boxes: 1 for each Corporation, except Selenium Research which requires 2.

General setup

A. Place the main board at the center of the table. B. If playing a 2 or 3-player game, cover the Command Action area with the Command Action overlay board, on the side that corresponds to the number of players.
A. Place the 18 Solar Panels on their corresponding spaces around the crater. B. Place the Energy marker on space 4/5/6 of the Energy track, in a 2/3/4-player game, respectively.
Place the Astronauts, Titanium, Rare Earth and Credits next to the play area to form a general supply. These components are not limited.
Sort the Shuttle tiles according to the number on their back: this number corresponds to the round they will be used.

IMPORTANT: In a 2-player game only, place two Domes from a non-played color on the marked spaces of the main board. Place a Solar Panel in these sectors.

Corporation setup

Randomly select 3 Corporations by shuffling their Corporation sheets. For your first games, we recommend you to play with these Corporations:
- 1st game: Artemis Tours + Moon Mining + Selenium Research.
- 2nd game: Evergreen Farms + Sky Watch + Space Robotics.
- 3rd game: To Mars + Moon Mining + Space Robotics.
For each Corporation: A. Place its Corporation board next to the main board. B. Take the Corporation tokens, then place 4 on the matching slots of the corporation board and 1 on an available slot around the central hex of the main board. Exception: If Selenium Research is in play, take the 6 Selenium Research Corporation tokens and place one of them on an available slot around the central hex of the main board, then return to the box the other identical Corporation token. Then, place the 4 remaining Corporation tokens on the Selenium Research board, alternating their type. C. Shuffle the project cards and form a face up deck next to their board. Then, move the top card of the deck next to it, so there are 2 face up cards per corporation for all the players.
Proceed to each Corporation specific setup, as indicated on their Corporation sheets.

Player setup

Each player chooses a color, then takes the matching components and a player board (now called their base).
Each player places: A. Their structures on the matching spaces of their base. B. Their 3 Goal markers at the bottom of their base. C. Their VP marker on space "0" of the VP track. D. Their Reputation marker on space "0" of the Reputation track.
The last player who traveled into space will be the 1st player for the 1st round. If no player has ever traveled into space, randomly determine a 1st player. Then, in clockwise order starting with the 1st player, each player places their turn order marker on the available space of lowest value of the turn order track.
Place Agency leader tiles (on random side, A or B) equal to the number of players close to the main board, then in turn order, each player: A. Chooses an Agency leader tile. B. Places the leftmost Dome from their base on one of the 6 central sectors on the main board. C. Places a Solar Panel in this sector, starting with the panel at the top of the crater and proceeding in clockwise order. D. Activates a Corporation token from this sector.

How to play

The game is played over 3 rounds, each of them being divided into 3 phases: 1 Shuttle phase, 2 Action phase, 3 Maintenance phase.

1. Shuttle phase

Reveal a number of Shuttle tiles from the current round equal to the number of players +1.
In reverse turn order, each player chooses an available Shuttle tile, places it next to their base and takes from the supply the astronauts and the resources indicated on it.
Once all players have selected their Shuttle tile, adjust turn order this way: the player who selected the Shuttle with the lowest number will be first player for this round: they place their turn order marker on the leftmost space of the turn order track. Then, in ascending Shuttle number, all other players do the same.
The Shuttle tile which has not been selected this round determines the astronauts to place on Lunar Gateway, as long as there is no more than 4 astronauts of each type there. This limit is checked during this step only.

2. Action phase

In turn order, players take one main action by deploying one Astronaut from their Shuttle tile. This means all players will play 6 main actions each round, for a total of 18 for the entire game.

When comes their turn, the player chooses an Astronaut from their Shuttle tile and deploys it on the main board to:

Exploit the Crater: Depending on the Astronaut type the player deploys, they will gain Credits, mine resources or activate the Corporations.
Perform one of the 3 Command actions: Any astronaut can Build a Structure / Fund a Project / Perform up to 3 Corporation actions, but if the astronaut matches the right Command action, the player will gain a bonus.
Visit the Lunar Gateway: Any astronaut may perform this action, which is a way for players to place Astronauts in their base, therefore to activate their structures abilities.

Exploit the crater

If the astronaut activates a sector where the active player already has a structure, they just get the benefits for free.
For each sector where they do not have a structure, they must pay Credits to the player with the biggest structure in the sector. The amount of Credits varies from 1 to 3 and is indicated on the slot where the astronaut was placed.

Note: In a 2-player game, if a neutral Dome is the biggest structure in the sector, pay the Credits to the bank.

When deploying an ENGINEER, the player mines the resource depicted on each activated sector (Titanium or Rare Earth).
When deploying a TECHNICIAN, the player gains 3 Credits from each activated sector.
When deploying a SCIENTIST, the player activates one of the Corporation tokens placed around the activated sectors. Each token can only be activated once per action, even if it is adjacent to two sectors of the current row. These tokens will provide resources or other benefits that depend on the Corporations in play.

Perform one of the 3 Command actions: Build a Structure / Fund a Project / Perform up to 3 Corporation actions

Build a Solar Panel (optional)

IMPORTANT: When the Energy marker is on one of the two rightmost slots, players cannot build Solar Panels until some Energy is spent.

Build a Structure

Action bonus (Build a Structure)

After resolving all effects from this Command action, you must trigger its bonus if you deployed an ENGINEER: choose a Corporation:

If there is no Corporation token from the chosen Corporation around the sector you just built, take the next Corporation token from that Corporation board, place it on an empty Corporation token slot around this sector and activate it. → Adding new Corporation tokens on the main board brings more possibilities to activate the Crater with a SCIENTIST and increases the cost to Fund Projects from that Corporation (See Fund a Project below).
If there is already a Corporation token from the chosen Corporation around the sector you just built, do not add a Corporation token and activate the one already there.
If there is no empty slot in the sector, you must activate one of the Corporation tokens already present.

Structures in detail

Domes (size 1): They provide immediate bonuses when built and income to collect during the Maintenance phase:

ENGINEERS produce 1 Titanium.
TECHNICIANS produce 3 credits.
SCIENTISTS grant 2 VP.

Workshops (size 2): They unlock ongoing abilities:

Each ENGINEER here provides a 3 Credits discount during the Maintenance phase.
Each TECHNICIAN here provides a 1 Credit discount and -1 Energy requirement to Fund Projects.
Each SCIENTIST here provides a 1 Credit discount to deploy an Astronaut to perform a Command action.

Laboratories (size 3): When you build a Laboratory, you trigger its immediate ability and the ability of all other Laboratories you previously built.

The top Laboratory mines the resource where you built your last Laboratory.
The central Laboratory makes you gain 3 Credits.
The bottom Laboratory activates a Corporation token around the sector where you built your last Laboratory.
At the end of the game, each Laboratory will grant you VP if it hosts Astronauts of the required type.

Headquarters (size 6): It improves your Agency Leader tile ability and provides income to collect during the maintenance phase: 1 Reputation for each Astronaut there.

Fund a Project

Project card anatomy

Each Project card shows: its Name; an Immediate effect (if any); its Ability; the Corporation the project belongs to; and its VP at the end of the game.

Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot to Fund a visible Project from any Corporation in play. Follow these steps:

Choose a visible Project card and check its Credit cost and Energy requirement, indicated on the right of the Corporation board, on the bottommost visible slot.
Check the Energy requirement (indicated in white):
- If the Energy level is equal to or higher than this requirement, go to directly 3.
- If not, you must produce Energy before, for example by building a Solar Panel (see above) and/or using another of your Project's abilities which allows you to do so. Also, this Workshop's ability helps you fund Projects by reducing their Energy requirement by 1 for each TECHNICIAN in it. Then go to step 3.

Consume the amount of Energy (in red and which is different from the minimum Energy requirement) by reducing the Energy level accordingly.
Pay the Credit cost, by spending Credits from your supply.
Take the Project and place it next to your base. Then, apply the immediate effect of the Project, if any.
Reveal a new Project from the same Corporation, if possible.

Action bonus (Fund a Project)

After resolving all effects from this Command action, you must trigger its bonus if you deployed a TECHNICIAN: perform a Corporation action (see below).

He takes the card and resolves its immediate effect: gain 1 Helium3.

Since he deployed a TECHNICIAN (5), he must perform a Corporation action: he decides to increase his Reputation by 2.

Perform up to 3 Corporation actions

Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot to perform up to 3 Corporation actions. You may perform several times the same, except for the Corporation actions from the Reputation track.

Corporation actions can be found in various areas of the game:

Gain 2 Reputation
Gain 1 Titanium
Gain 1 Rare Earth
Activate 1 Corporation token from the main board.

Note: Should you unlock a new Corporation action on the Reputation track after gaining any amount of Reputation, this Corporation action becomes available immediately.

Corporation action from a Project you funded:

Projects with the "Corporation action" icon let you perform a Corporation action.
Projects with the "Once per Round Corporation Action" icon let you perform a Corporation action once per round. When you use it, you must rotate the card by 90 degrees to indicate that you cannot use it again this round. At the end of each round, you will then rotate back your cards.

Action bonus (Perform up to 3 Corporation actions)

Visit the Lunar Gateway

Deploy any Astronaut and place it in the Lunar Gateway area of the main board to do the following in any order:

Gain 3 Credits.
Take an Astronaut from the Lunar Gateway (physically different from the one just placed) and place it on an available slot of your base. If there is no Astronaut on the Lunar Gateway anymore, or if there is no room for an Astronaut in your base, skip this step.
Perform a Corporation Action.

Example: Matthieu visits the Lunar Gateway: he deploys an ENGINEER from his Shuttle tile and places them in the Lunar Gateway area.

He gains 3 Credits (1), then takes a TECHNICIAN and places them in a Dome slot from his base (2). Then, he performs a Corporation action and decides to increase his Reputation by 2 (3).

End of turn: claim one or several Corporation goals

At the end of your turn, you may claim any number of Corporation goals:

You cannot claim more than one goal from each Corporation.
Check if you meet the requirement and if it is available: the slot must not have a goal token on it and some slots are reserved for 3 & 4 player games. Each Corporation has 3 requirements: the more difficult the requirement, the more VP it scores.
Place one of your Goal tokens on the slot and score the indicated VP + extra VP depending on the position of your Reputation marker (between 0 and 4 VP).

The Reputation track

Players' Reputation starts at 0. During the game, you will increase your Reputation, which will unlock new opportunities:

Spaces 0, 4, 8 and 12: Once your Reputation reaches these spaces, you unlock a new Corporation action: gain 2 Reputation, gain 1 Titanium, gain 1 Rare Earth, activate any Corporation token on the main board.
Spaces 2, 6, 10 and 14: Once your Reputation reaches these spaces, you score additional VPs when claiming a goal: 1/2/3/4 additional VPs respectively.
Spaces 1, 5, 9 and 13: Once your Reputation reaches these spaces, your maintenance cost is increased by 1/2/3/4 Credits, respectively.
Should your Reputation marker be on space 15 and you would gain Reputation, you gain 1 VP instead.
Should your Reputation marker be on space 0 and you would lose Reputation, you lose 2 VP instead, if able (your VP cannot go below 0).

Reminder: at the end of the game, you score VP equal to your Reputation.

3. Maintenance phase

1. Corporation Maintenance

From Corporation #1 to Corporation #3 (from top to bottom), resolve their Maintenance step (explained in their Corporation sheets), if any.

2. Retrieve Astronauts from the crater

The top left area of the player boards allow players to welcome an extra astronaut, waiting for a structure to be built to welcome them.

Example: Starting from the symbol and going clockwise, players retrieve the Astronauts from the crater (1).

The first Astronaut to be retrieved is a ENGINEER: Fabio and Matthieu are tied in total structure size in the row facing the ENGINEER (4 each) (2).

Since Matthieu controls the biggest structure closest to the ENGINEER, (3) he gains the ENGINEER and places it in his base. Then, players continue retrieving Astronauts in clockwise order.

(4) The SCIENTIST at the other side goes to Matthieu, because there are no Brown buildings in the closest sector to it.

3. Collect income

First, players may reorganize their Astronauts on their player board by moving them on empty slots, as long as there is at most one Astronaut on each slot.

Then, they collect income in this order:

Corporations: players gain income from the Corporations, if any.
Domes: players gain 1 Titanium for each ENGINEER, 3 Credits for each TECHNICIAN and 2 VP for each SCIENTIST there.
Headquarters: players gain 1 Reputation for each Astronaut (regardless of their type) in their HQ.

Example: Matthieu gains 2 Titanium and 3 Credits from his Domes and 2 Reputation from his HQ.

4. Pay Maintenance costs

Players must spend Credits for:

The last Reputation maintenance cost their marker reached on the Reputation track (between 0 and 4 Credits)
The total Maintenance cost for the structures they built: each Dome costs 1 Credit, each Workshop costs 2 Credits, each Laboratory costs 3 Credits and the Headquarters costs 4 Credits.

Note: Do not forget that each ENGINEER in the top Workshop reduces your maintenance cost by 3 Credits.

For each missing Credit, they move back their Reputation marker on the Reputation track one space. Should their marker go below 0, they lose 2 VP for each remaining missing Credit.

Example: Matthieu must pay his maintenance costs: 2 Credits for his Reputation (1), then 10 Credits for his structures (2 Credits for his Domes, 4 for his Workshops and 4 for his HQ).

Since there is an ENGINEER in his Worksop, his maintenance cost is reduced by 3 Credits (2). He must pay 9 Credits in total (2 + 10 - 3 = 9)

5. Astronaut Cleanup

Remove all Astronauts from the Command action area.

End of the game

After the Maintenance phase of the 3rd round is over, proceed to endgame scoring to determine the winner:

Score VP from the Projects you funded.
Score VP from Astronauts in your Laboratories: for each Laboratory you built, score 2/5/10 VP if there are 1/2/3 Astronauts of the matching type.
Score VP equal to your Reputation level.
Score VP from the 3 Corporations, starting by the topmost one. The way to score endgame VP is indicated on the Corporation sheets.

The player with the most VP wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most Reputation wins the game. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Solo rules

In the solo mode, you play against AstroBot, an automated player running one of the space agencies.

Solo Components

7 solo Action cards
7 double sided solo Corporation cards (3 are used each game)
1 AstroBot board (back of a player board)
1 Development marker

Setup

Choose a player color for yourself and one for AstroBot, then follow the setup for a 2-player game, but draw only one Agency Leader tile for yourself and do not place the astrobot's dome yet.
Place your Turn Order marker on the 1st slot and AstroBots' on the 2nd.
Take a third player board and place it to the right of AstroBot's board, showing its Solo side. This board has 3 Corporation slots, marked with the letters A, B, C, with a track below. At the bottom of the board, there is the AstroBot's Development track.
Take the solo Corporation cards of the 3 corporations in play, and place one on each of the 3 corporation slots (A, B and C) of the Solo Board. In the remainder of the rules, we will refer to corporations by their corresponding letter (i.e. corporation A will be the corporation which solo card was placed in the 'A' slot, and so on). Each corporation card has two sides: one marked as Easy (★), the other marked as Hard (★★):
- For an easy game, place all cards on their Easy side.
- For more challenging games, place one or more cards on their Hard side.
Place the 3 AstroBot's goal markers on the 0 of the project tracks located under the Corporation cards.
Place the Development marker on the 0 of the Development track of the Solo board.
Shuffle the 7 Action solo cards into a deck that is placed, face down, below the solo board. Draw one Solo Action card and use it to decide where AstroBot will place its first Dome. Look at the letter with a red background in the top right corner of the card: place the starting Dome in a sector from the inner circle, next to the corresponding Corporation token.
- If both sectors next to that token are already occupied (by the neutral Dome and by yours) use the letter without the red background.
- If both sectors are available, pick one according to the direction of the arrow on the card (see below under the build action how to use the arrow in order to pick a slot on the board).

Gameplay

The game then plays as follows:

Shuttle phase

Follow these steps in order:

During each Shuttle phase, shuffle the 5 Shuttle tiles from the current round face down. Assign one face down tile to AstroBot, then reveal two more, face up.
Choose one of the 2 revealed Shuttle tiles for yourself (take astronauts and resources indicated on it, as usual), and use the other one to fill up the Lunar Gateway.
Reveal AstroBot's face down Shuttle tile, place it next to the solo board, and fill it with matching astronauts. AstroBot does not gain or use resources and Credits.
Update the turn order according to the numbers on the selected Shuttle tiles.

Then, Fabio reveals AstrBot's Shuttle tile's number: it is the Shuttle #1, so Fabio adjusts the new turn order accordingly (4).

Action Phase

1. Check the letter

At the top left of each card, there are two letters which will determine the corporation to be considered for the turn:

If only one matches the letter on the right side of the previous card, that will be the active corporation.
If both match, the active corporation will be the one corresponding to the letter with a red background on the previous card.

2. Check the card symbol

Development icon: advance the Development marker one step to the right on the Solo board. If the marker is already at the end, advance AstroBot's Reputation marker one step instead.
Goal icon: advance the Goal marker on the Solo board for the current corporation. If the marker reaches the end of the track, move it to the corresponding Corporation board.

Then perform the action depicted on that row.

Example: AstroBot plays its first Action card of the current round: first, the letter indicates that the active Corporation is Artemis Tours (1).

Then, the card symbol makes AstroBot progress its Goal marker one space (2), which makes AstroBot scores Artemis Tours' goal, according to its development track: AstroBot scores 8 VP (3).

3. Resolve the action

Each card has 3 rows with different astronaut types:

Identify the topmost row for which AstroBot still has an astronaut of that type available on its Shuttle tile.
Then, perform the action depicted on that row.

Exploit the crater

IMPORTANT: If there is no room left in the crater for an astronaut, AstroBot performs the Visit the Lunar Gateway action instead.

Build a Structure

AstroBot deploys an ENGINEER on the leftmost available slot to build a structure for the active Corporation. Resolve these steps in order:

The type of structure AstroBot builds is determined by its Development track. If all structures of the selected type have been built, it builds the first structure available of a smaller size.
Starting with the row indicated by the triangle on the solo card and following the arrow (if needed): Search for the 1st available row where AstroBot would gain an astronaut if the round would end now. AstroBot builds in the powered sector closest to the astronaut, if able. Otherwise choose another powered sector in this row. If there is no room for the structure in the powered sector, AstroBot builds a Solar Panel (therefore gaining Reputation + producing Energy) in the sector closest to the astronaut and builds its structure there. If still not possible, continue searching in the next available row, following the arrow.

If there is no astronaut in the crater, AstroBot builds in the powered sector closest to the triangle, if able. Otherwise choose another powered sector in this row. If there is no room for the structure in the powered sector, AstroBot builds a Solar Panel (therefore gaining Reputation + producing Energy) in the sector closest to the triangle and builds its structure there. If still not possible, continue searching in the next available row, following the arrow.
Then, place the structure (from left to right, and from top to bottom) in the sector.

IMPORTANT:

If the Energy marker is on the last 2 spaces of the Energy track, AstroBot cannot build a Solar Panel: it performs the Visit the Lunar Gateway action instead.
AstroBot triggers immediate effects from Domes, but not from Laboratories, and does not spend Titanium or Rare Earth for structures. But will consumes Energy if so required (for Laboratories and Headquarters).

Fund a Project

AstroBot deploys a TECHNICIAN on the leftmost available slot to Fund a visible Project from the active Corporation. Follow these steps:

AstroBot chooses the project worth the most VP. In case of a tie, it decides which one based on the orientation of the arrow (left or right).
Check the Energy requirement (AstroBot never spends Credits) indicated in white on the lowest visible slot of the active Corporation board.
- If the Energy level is equal to or higher than this requirement, go to step 3.
- If not, AstroBot must reduce the requirement or produce Energy before, in this order: apply its Development track discount, then virtually buy Energy if the level is below 3, and build a Solar Panel (so AstroBot may gain Reputation this way) if it is still not sufficient. The Solar Panel is placed on the center hex of the main board and will be used later by any player. If there is still not enough Energy for the current Corporation, AstroBot tries with the next one (in A/B/C order). If no project can be funded, AstroBot performs the Visit the Lunar Gateway action instead.
Take the project and place it next to AstroBot's base. AstroBot ignores all its effects: it will only provide VPs at the end of the game (you can stack all its project cards, leaving only the bottom right corner visible).
Reveal a new project from the same Corporation, if able.

Bonus action: After resolving its action entirely, AstroBot performs a Corporation action for the active Corporation.

Perform up to 3 Corporation actions

AstroBot deploys a SCIENTIST on the leftmost available slot to perform one Corporation action for each of the 3 Corporations in play, in this order: A, B and C. Follow these steps in order:

Each Corporation solo card indicates what AstroBot does when performing their Corporation action.
For each Corporation action AstroBot cannot perform, it gains 2 Reputation instead.

Visit the Lunar Gateway

AstroBot gains an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway and places it in its base, chosen according to these priorities: the astronaut whose type is least numerous in AstroBot's base, followed by astronaut whose type is least numerous in the Lunar Gateway, followed by the astronaut type indicated on the current Action card, from top to bottom.
AstroBot performs a Corporation action for the active Corporation. If not possible, it gains 2 Reputation instead.

Note: When placing astronaut in AstroBot's base, place it on a matching available slot if possible. Otherwise, place it on any empty slot.

Maintenance phase

Corporation Maintenance. Proceed as usual.
Retrieve astronauts from the crater. Should AstroBot gain astronauts during this phase, place them as follows:
- During the first two rounds: Place SCIENTISTS in the Domes, and everyone else in the Headquarters, if built. Otherwise, fill the available slots from left to right and from top to bottom, placing first the matching astronauts and then, placing the rest.
- During the last round: Fill the Laboratories first with matching astronauts, and then place any remaining SCIENTISTS in Domes, the rest going to the Headquarters (if built). Any remaining astronauts at the end of this procedure is placed on the remaining available slots. If AstroBot cannot welcome an astronaut in its base, it is placed in the Lunar Gateway instead.
Collect income. AstroBot gains 2VP for each SCIENTIST in its Domes and 1 Reputation for each astronaut in its Headquarters.
Pay Maintenance costs. AstroBot does not pay maintenance costs!
Astronaut Cleanup. Proceed as usual.
Solo deck reset. Put aside the last solo card played (which will become the starting solo card for the next round), and shuffle the other 6 cards in a new deck (Skip this step if it is the last round).

Endgame Scoring

AstroBot scores the VP value of its funded projects, the astronauts in its Laboratories, VP from the Reputation track and potential endgame VP from Corporations.

Corporation actions (solo)

These describe what AstroBot's solo Corporation card makes it do for each Corporation, when instructed by the solo rules above.

Artemis Tours Easy & Hard: Take the next Tourist from the Artemis Tours board, then place it on the lowest VP value of AstroBot's corporation cards. AstroBot immediately scores the indicated VP.

Space Robotics AstroBot builds a Factory depending on:

The triangle on the solo card: left / center / right.
The position of its marker on the Development track: Easy: 0/2: top, 3/5: middle, 6/7: bottom. Hard: 0/1: top, 2/3: middle, 4/7: bottom. If there is no available Factory at the indicated position, AstroBot will first seek to build the first one available to its right on the same row. If none is available, it will look at the row below and then at the row above until it finds one.

Sky Watch AstroBot progresses on the Sky Watch track depending on the position of its marker on the Development track:

Easy: 0/2: 1 step, 3/5: 2 steps, 6/7: 3 steps.
Hard: 0/1: 1 step, 2/3: 2 steps, 4/7: 3 steps. Then, it contributes to a Defense Program from the section it reached, from bottom to top. When contributing to the topmost Defense Program, AstroBot consumes 1 Energy, as usual. If AstroBot cannot contribute to a Defense Program, it progresses 3 additional steps on the Sky Watch track instead. IMPORTANT: If AstroBot cannot progress on the Sky Watch track anymore, ignore all further progressions, but it still contributes to a Defense Program if able.

To Mars AstroBot sends one of its structures to the Mars ship.

First, pick a structure that would complete a module of the Mars ship, if able. If several structures correspond to what AstroBot will send, search the first available one in the row pointed by the triangle symbol and follow the arrow, if needed.
Otherwise, pick the biggest structure available. If several structures correspond to what AstroBot will send, search the first available one in the row pointed by the triangle symbol and follow the arrow, if needed.
Then, depending on the position of its marker on the Development track, AstroBot gains the following bonuses which are cumulative:

IMPORTANT: Every time AstroBot gains an astronaut, send it to the Mars ship (following the game rules concerning sending an astronaut there), if able.

Credits

Appendix

Agency leaders

Each Agency Leader has a special ability, which can be improved once the player has built their Headquarters.

Japan A Ability: When you fund a project, spend 1 Credit less. Improved ability: When you fund a project, spend 3 Credits less.

Europe B Ability: After you activated the crater, you may spend 2 Credits to perform a Corporation action. Improved ability: After you activated the crater, you may perform a Corporation action.

Icon reference

Gain Credits / Spend Credits
Titanium / Rare Earth
Reputation / Immediate VP / Endgame VP
Corporation action / Once per Round Corporation Action
Mine a sector / Gain an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway
Shuttle tile / Any astronaut
ENGINEER / TECHNICIAN / SCIENTIST
Energy requirement / Energy consumption
Exploit the Crater / Command action / Build a Structure / Fund a Project / Perform 3 Corporation actions / Visit the Lunar Gateway
Dome / Workshop / Laboratory / Headquarters
Total structure size / Structure size
Build a Structure for free (regardless of energy and costs)
Fund Project for free (regardless of energy and costs)
Income / Activate a Corporation Token
Card triggers: Corporation Action / Once per Round Corporation Action / Ongoing Ability / Endgame Scoring / Immediate Bonus